It may be a little premature for Gov. George E. Pataki to herald the turnaround of the upstate economy. At least 40 percent of the private job gain last year occurred in industries like retail and social services, where the average wages are 40 percent below the … (read more)

March 6, 2000. William Tuthill reports in the Capital District Business Review:

New York state’s array of economic development programs, in which millions of dollars are annually loaned or given to spur businesses and create jobs, lack adequate means of measuring their own effectiveness, according to a report by State Comptroller H. Carl McCall.

There are not enough tools in place to show whether funded projects have resulted in the increase or retention of jobs, the report said. … (read more)

January 7, 2000.This audit (Report 98-S-7) by the Office of the State Comptroller concluded that the ESDC does a poor job of tracking employment at companies that receive state subsidies, and that many companies have fallen short of the promises for creating or retaining jobs on which their subsidies were based.… (read more)

May 25, 1999. Legislators and coalition of statewide organizations urge New York to join national move toward greater accountability in the granting of corporate subsidies. Group press release:

“State and local taxpayers should get their money’s worth from the billions in government subsidies that are given to businesses each year in New York State,” declared the Fair Budget Campaign at a press conference this morning at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. The Fair Budget Campaign is a cooperative project … (read more)

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the economic development challenges facing Upstate New York. The lagging performance of the upstate economies is a serious issue. Weak job growth for an extended period in the 1990s has restrained income growth and the resulting lack of job opportunities has, unfortunately but not unexpectedly, led many people to give … (read more)

Most states have not been spending all the federal dollars that have been allocated to them under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. According to our budget analysts, states have about $6 billion in unspent funds left over from fiscal years 1997 and 1998. My colleagues and I on the Committee on Ways and Means are fighting to … (read more)

March 10, 1999. This legislation, introduced in the U. S. House of Representatives by Congressman David Minge, is based on a plan developed by officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota. The legislation is intended to reduce the pressure that states and cities currently face to participate in the “Economic War Among the States” by having the federal government tax away the benefits that corporations receive in the form of state and local government subsidies.

December 1993. A report prepared for the Fiscal Policy Institute by Richard D. Pomp, the Alva P. Loiselle Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut’s School of Law and the former Executive Director of New York State’s Legislative Tax Study Commission.… (read more)